tech is more art than tech.

the importance of not knowing

The title might sound very counterintuitive, given mastering anything require in-depth knowledge. So how is not knowing helpful?

a) Selective ignorance. It is the practice of selectively ignoring distracting, irrelevant or otherwise unnecessary information received, such as e-mails, news reports, etc. Probably the most powerful weapon at the disposal of highly effective people.

b) Admission of lack of knowledge is the first step towards acquiring knowledge. This might sound very generic or trivial. However, it will be mind boggling to notice how many practice this in their life. Because emotion stand before reason, we tend to avoid any admission of guilt and use every chance we get to show off our knowledge, no matter how limited it is. Also, it is easy to slip up our obliviousness when we express more than we should. It is like an open wound.

Like one of 57 laws from Robert Greene’s book, it is better to keep quiet than saying more than we should.

Admission of not knowing something opens up tremendous possibilities. For one, others would be more interested in sharing their thoughts on the subject than if you had expressed mastery.

About

I am a terrible writer and a perfectionist. Which pretty much means I rarely get anything published. But I have some interesting ideas about tech, startups, management, atheism and other things which I think some of you might find helpful. So I’m doing this. This blog is an unedited, tl;dr version of my thoughts. Sorry for the trouble!